Christmas Presents!

Christmas Eve Eve

I'm going home tomorrow!  I'm...um...almost ready.

I can't wait!

Also, working retail the week before Christmas is insane.

Also, we've never had so much space on the shelves.  We're sold out of everything.




"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."
                       -Maya Angelou


Almost Christmas!

Goodnight Moon

...does not actually contain the phrase "goodnight moon"

Unbroken

A good book which, from the midpoint on, was pretty much impossible to put down.  And my sense of humor loves that Hillenbrand found a quote from someone comparing Louie to Seabiscuit, as underdog racers.

The ending was a bit drawn out... but then again, life's never neat and tidy.  Having things a bit drawn out and occasionally unsatisfying is the price paid for tying up lose ends in a work on nonfiction - something Hillenbrand does do surprisingly well.  She is thorough.

Interestingly, the next book I checked out after this one was The Hunger Games, which could quite easily have used the title Unbroken.   Certainly there are similar themes.  I'll post that review later.

Relaxing Evening

Me too! :-)

Random Acts of Kindness

You know, people keep asking me, "You're not from Boston, are you?" and when I say no, they say they thought so because I'm "too nice" and then they guess I'm from the Midwest.


I'm not, just in case anyone stumbles through here who doesn't already know this.


But I think Boston's selling itself short with this attitude.  Bostonians are not nearly so grouchy as they make themselves out to be.

I've seen strangers hold doors for each other, smiling and making eye contact while doing so.

I've seen people signing up at donation drives on the street.

I've seen people jump up on the subway and insist someone older/very young/obviously tired/pregnant/carrying too much take their seats.

I've seen entire subway cars full of people rearrange themselves to keep a family seated together.

I've seen half the people in an over-packed subway car rearrange themselves to help prevent a two-year-old boy from losing his balance.

I regularly see Borders customers stopping to help give each other directions, just because they overheard a conversation where someone sounded confused.

And tonight, the driver carefully stopped the T with the door directly in front of me, where I stood waiting under a roof, instead of somewhere down along the stretch where he was supposed to stop, just because it was raining and he saw I didn't have an umbrella.


So anyway, I say Boston's not really mean.  They just want you to think they are.

Why am I awake?

You know what?  I already showed Steph, but I'll put this here anyway...


Emerson College is awesome

Applications Class

I can't believe we're done!  That happened so fast!  It was a great class, and everybody's final projects looked great during today's presentations.  We finished class early and went out to have dinner and toast the end of the semester with martinis.  We brought Joe along with us and treated him (which turned out to be easy to do, since he only ordered a beer and there were 8 or 10 of us).

A good end of the semester.  I'm going to miss this class.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

Is this seriously not coming out until the end of June?

I know it's aimed at kids, not me, but...

...I think I kinda love this book.

But maybe I should wait until June.

I have discovered a new cold symptom

When the cold moves into your head, not only does it become harder to think, but when you close your eyes you can't tell up from down.

Did I mention I left work early today?

Excited

So just as I was starting to worry I would get no responses to my requests for interviews... just as I was drafting an email in my head asking my professor what I should do... I get two responses!  And I can't wait to talk to both of them!  This will be a great paper!

Then I started freaking out with "wait, what do I ask?" and then I stopped and thought about it and realized these are amazingly cool people and they're willing to talk to me and I have so much I want to ask and who cares about the paper!  Approached that way, I soon had a list of questions, and... well, as I said, I'm sure this will be a great paper.  A little tight time-wise, but hey, deadlines make it daring, right?

Sarah's Key

A very powerful book.  It is not a fun read, and I even hesitate to say good read... but it is a heavy read, and in that context, very, very good.

I like the juxtaposition of Sarah and Julia's stories, leaving the parallels very present but unstated.  Comparing them directly would have cheapened both; as it is, they are unforgettable.

The semi-happy ending, despite the fact I saw it coming miles away (or maybe because of this), does seem a bit contrived, but I like it so much I find it hard to be annoyed by this.  So I think I'll just let it slide and conclude with the opinion that this was an all-around great book, if a bit inappropriate for the Christmas season mood-wise.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

...because everyone else seems to have snow by now. :-P

Anyway, the Christmas season is on!  Got my Christmas clothes, music, tree, and recipes... got my Advent wreath and calendars... got my new coat... Christmas shopping almost done...

I practiced for my Illustrator test by making a picture of a Christmas tin.

Classes are almost over - the semester went by really fast.

Also: Laundry's done, room's cleaned, dishes washed... I'm actually almost caught up!  I even have time finally to update my blog! It will have to be short though, because I want to leave a little early for class so I can stop for groceries.  Coming up: review of Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay